Saltwater Kisses (The Kisses Series, #1) by Krista Lakes
To my Daddy. No matter what, I'll always be your little girl. Chapter 1
I stepped off the plane. A wave of humid air hit me, the smell of salt and flowers blowing through my hair and ruffling my clothes. I took a deep breath, memorizing the smell. It was the smell of the start of a great vacation. I stepped carefully down the stair ramp, feeling like a movie star as I exited the small plane and followed a red carpet off the runway and to the small terminal. I couldn‘t wipe the grin off my face to save my life.
The airport terminal was open to the Caribbean air. It seemed strange to me at first, until I realized that the weather was always nice enough here that they wouldn’t need to have double-paned windows. It was a foreign concept to someone like me who had always lived in a place that required heating and cooling throughout the year. My windows in Iowa were only open in the late spring and early fall due to the weather outside which was either too hot or too cold. I loved the idea of having windows open year round, the weather always nice.
My bags were already circling the small baggage carousel, the benefit of being the only plane at a small airport. The bag clicked behind me on the tile floor as I looked around for my ride to the hotel. I found a well-dressed man with large aviator glasses holding up a sign with my name on it: Emma LaRue. I must have looked like someone ready for vacation because he started smiling at me as soon as he saw me. Must have been the grin plastered on my face and the big eyes trying to take it all in.
“Ms. LaRue?” he asked, a lilting accent twisting my name into something exotic. “I’m Felipe. If you need anything during your stay here, please just let me know.” I smiled and nodded excitedly as he took my bags and ushered me towards a waiting fancy town car. I felt spoiled as he opened the door and I slid into the soft leather seat. The air was running and the car felt cold after the tropical warmth of the airport.
Felipe entered the driver’s seat and easily maneuvered the car out onto the main road. I pressed my nose against the tinted glass like a little kid, watching this beautiful world zoom past. Palm trees and plants that only grew in greenhouses lined the road, green things growing wild against the bright blue sky.
“Is this your first time to the island?” Felipe asked, smiling in the mirror at my amazement.
“Yes — I’ve almost never left Iowa,” I said, never taking my eyes from the window.
“Iowa? What is in Iowa?” Felipe asked, his accent making my home state sound like a foreign country.
“Just pigs and corn,” I said with a laugh.
“Pigs and corn. We have only fish and coconuts here. Hopefully you will find it to your liking,” he said as he turned the car smoothly. I could see the ocean in the distance now, the sunlight making it gleam along the horizon.
“I like fish and coconuts,” I said and he laughed.
“Is that why you are vacationing here?”
“Well, I actually won this trip. There was a contest on the radio. I never win anything, but I somehow won this,” I said staring at the gleaming horizon. I had never seen the ocean, and even from this distance, I could only stare in wonder. It was so big and beautiful, even from far away. I could barely believe I would see it up close.
I was sure I was going to wake up at any moment. My favorite radio station had run a contest for an all-expenses-paid vacation to the exclusive tropical paradise resort on Ocean Key. I had called in on a whim, and fast-forward two months, here I was. It still felt surreal.
“You must be very lucky if you won a trip to Ocean Blue Resort,” Felipe said as he drove past an ornate sign bearing the name. A waterfall cascaded next to bright blue tile letters proclaiming the name from the road. It looked expensive and fancy.
“It might be the universe trying to even out my usual bad luck,” I said. Felipe laughed, as if I had made a joke. I smiled, but it wasn’t a joke to me. Things never seemed to go my way. I had this horrible suspicion that this was merely an elaborate joke at my expense. I was going to arrive at the resort and my room would be occupied, or I’ll find that I was actually responsible for the bill and would end up paying for everything. That would be the kind of luck I usually had. Not this good kind of luck.